Quitter, a Tale of oh-so-Painful Addiction
by bellagill92
Summary: When Gray returns to an old habit after Tartarus, Team Natsu takes it upon itself to make him stop. A.K.A Jellal wants to ask Erza a question but keeps getting interrupted. Two-shot. (Part of the 'Our World' series. Can be read as a stand-alone fic.)
1. The System

**A/N: This is a sort-of-sequel to The Rollercoaster, although it doesn't focus only on Jerza interaction.**

**Disclaimer about the portrayal of smoking in this fic: I have no problem whatsoever with smokers. This chapter is, in no way, meant to antagonize them or lecture anybody, which I tried to make clear in my writing here. The smoking is a mere plot device in this and the character's reactions are what I thought fit their canon personalities (Erza self-righteously against, Juvia legitimately concerned and the others basically following Erza's lead because getting in her way is suicide). Obviously, I am not doing the opposite either by encouraging people to smoke – consider me completely neutral here. I will admit I don't smoke myself for personal reasons but I'm not egging on the people who do. I am nobody's mother. **

**Phew, long disclaimer for a comedy fic, hmm?**

**Well, I hope you enjoy! Bella out! **

***drops the microphone***

_**Chapter 1/2**_

"Well, I'm off," Gray announced one afternoon, getting up from the table where he sat with Cana and Juvia at the guild.

"Already? It's still early," Cana asked.

"Gray-sama doesn't enjoy the company?" Juvia asked, dejected.

He shook his head. "It's nothing like that. I've just got something to do at home. I'll be back later," he said. "See you guys then."

Juvia pouted as she watched her Gray-sama walking away, still with a feeling that something was off. Maybe he was lying and he _did _want to get away from her…

"Oh, is Gray already gone?" Mirajane asked, approaching the table with a full tankard to exchange Cana's empty one for.

"He said he had 'something to do at home'," the guild's number-one-drinker indicated.

"Again?" Mira asked, looking suspicious. "He's been slipping out an awful lot in the past few months to do some 'undetermined something', hasn't he? Did you notice how he always comes back with his hair wet like he's just taken a shower?"

Cana snorted. "Don't tell me you think he's repeatedly going home to take cold showers," she said. "My, has our good old Gray developed into a constant horn-dog? Might you be slipping something into his drinks, Juvia?" she said, elbowing the water mage, who blushed red from head to toe.

"N-no… of course Juvia hasn't!" she stammered. She'd learned her lesson after last time.

"I don't think that's what the case is about," Mira stated.

"_What case are you referring to?"_ a voice came from behind Mira.

She turned around and found Erza standing there. "We were just commenting on Gray's sudden absences in the past few months. Have you noticed them?"

"Yes, I did notice a pattern," the redhead informed them. "He's been acting odd on jobs too. He gets very fidgety when they run long. And he always books himself a single room now – he says it is because of Natsu's snoring but I find it odd that it's just started to bother him now after so long."

Mira nodded. "You have a point there. That and the constant showering… he's up to something."

"I still vote on the boner-induced cold showers," Cana said, much to their distaste. "Well, that or a bunch of rendezvous with a girl."

Juvia's eyes widened as she let out a loud, shrill sound of pain.

"Cana!" Mira scolded, immediately rushing to place a supportive hand on the water mage's shoulder. "There, there, Juvia, I'm sure it's nothing like that," she assured her before turning to the others. "I've actually got a theory of my own… it's not a very positive one, but well…"

"What is it?" Erza asked.

Mira sighed. "Well… there are certain… conditions – mental conditions – that can lead a person to doing random things compulsively. Like showering, for instance. They can be triggered by traumatizing events and… well, the matter with Tartarus and his father would certainly classify as one."

Cana frowned. "You think he's OCD now? That's messed up."

Juvia gasped. "Gray-sama…" she whispered.

"He's certainly been through a great deal lately," Erza agreed. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions but it's something to keep an eye out for."

Mira sighed. "Whatever it is, I hope we can help him."

* * *

Gray looked over his shoulder the entire way home to make sure he wasn't being followed and once he got there, he looked out through his door's peephole for a good five minutes before feeling confident enough that no one was spying outside.

He wasn't being paranoid! No, but he was aware of the consequences of the act he was about to commit. All it took was one person seeing it… or smelling it – word would spread like wildfire and it was only a matter of time before it reached everyone's ears. Including Erza's… yeah, she was definitely the last person he wanted to know about his… issue. She'd kill him for it. No doubt. That was why he had a system.

A system he was just about to put into practice.

As such, he made his way to his bathroom and went straight for the window, opening it. It was a big window, rather awkwardly-placed in a room that should cater to privacy, but at least it led straight into what had to be the dingiest alley in town. No one in their right minds would be caught dead in there, which made said window perfect for the purpose he had in mind.

He sat on the ledge, legs dangling out and took a breath. By then, he was down to his underwear, which served his purpose. "Ice-make: Wall," he said, creating a barrier completely blocking him from the inside of his apartment like a hermetic seal. Perfect.

Finally, with the system in place, he reached into the fake flower pot resting on the window ledge. It had a fake bottom, which was perfect to hide something small in it… such as the pack of cigarettes he reached for.

"Come to Daddy," he said, lighting one with the matchbook he found next to it. One puff and… ah, he was in heaven. He held the burning cigarette in front of his eyes and gave it a look that should be only reserved for a lover. "I've been yearning for you all afternoon."

It wasn't a new habit – smoking. He used to do it up until a few years before… well, a year and a few months from his point of view. It hadn't been until a few weeks after Team Natsu had been formed that he'd quit… and not by choice.

The five of them had been on a job that involved a rather tiring mountain climb. Unfortunately, smoking rather limited one's stamina and Erza hadn't been happy about that.

"_It's that filthy habit of yours that's slowing is down_," she'd declared midway through the climb. _"That's it, Gray. You're quitting."_

Of course, he hadn't been happy about it. _"Dream on. You're not my mother,_" he'd replied.

He could still remember the look on Erza's face – it was positively terrifying. _"You can do it the easy way or the hard way. And trust me, the hard way will be painful_."

Right then and there, he'd gulped and decided to try the easy way… only to fail spectacularly and ending up going through the hard way. Painful was an euphemism at best. At the end, he was just too scared and sore not to quit. Erza had made a point of going on detail about what she'd do to him if he fell off the wagon and he'd been completely sure he'd never have the guts to do so…

… until Tartarus. He didn't even like thinking of it. The whole business with his father… it was enough to push someone to the bottle but since didn't have Cana's liver, he'd gone back to smoking instead. It didn't do miracles but it could take the edge off. He guessed he'd gone back to his old crutch through the bad times… and of course, now the blessed nicotine had done its job at getting him hooked, as much as he hated to admit it. It didn't matter, though – he'd sort it out eventually and until he did, he'd just have to keep leaning on 'the system'.

It wasn't that hard, really. He just had to make sure to never smoke in front of anyone, always be naked (which wasn't even a chore to him) so the smell wouldn't get to his clothes and do it outside so it wouldn't get in his house either, since Juvia did have a habit of wandering into it every once in a while. Cigarettes had to be hidden and never bought within Magnolia – he always made sure to sneak a few packs (more like a carton or two) during out of town on jobs. Then, he'd make a point of mailing it home rather than taking it himself because he wouldn't want to risk Natsu sniffing them out in his luggage. Also because of Natsu's nose, he always had to thoroughly shower and brush his teeth right after enjoying a smoke – he'd probably spent almost as much on toothpaste and body and mouth wash as on cigarettes since the return of his habit.

Okay, maybe not. Smoking was an expensive habit.

Still, the system was working. Over a year had passed and no one had discovered. Erza was probably not even paying attention anymore – with Jellal constantly at the guild now, she had other things in her mind – and although he wouldn't use that as an argument to lax 'the system', it didn't put him in a hurry to quit. The last time had been hard because Erza had made him do it so fast – he'd go with doing it slowly this time, easing himself off the habit at his own pace. Not just yet… no, he still needed to work on the plan. And… stuff.

Maybe he'd start working on quitting at the year-and-a-half mark. Eighteen months. That was a nice, round number. Or maybe not – eighteen... three times six… 666… evil… demons… Tartarus…

Widening his eyes, he lit another cigarette to replace the one he'd just finished. No, eighteen was _bad_. Bad idea. Maybe twenty months instead… well, from twenty months to two years went a short way. Two years of smoking didn't sound _too_ bad…

Yes, he'd start thinking of quitting then… maybe.

* * *

It had seemed like a pretty good deal. She was short in cash and her landlady needed a favor – if she did that favor for her, her rent would be sliced to half that month and that much she could afford, actually leaving herself some spending money.

Still, it would have probably been a good idea for her to ask what the favor was before accepting it with tears in her eyes. And she should have probably gone to Carla or Pantherlily before Happy when she concluded she could use a pair of wings for the job because, before she knew it, he and Natsu had completely taken over her 'favor' under the guise of 'helping'.

"This is ridiculous," Lucy declared from their hiding place inside a dumpster.

"Shhh!" Natsu scolded her. "You'll scare it away."

She groaned. Scare what away? A cat. Not an exceed, an actual cat – a stray one who'd been looming around her building and had apparently stolen some kind of heirloom necklace from her landlady, who wanted it back. That was her job… before Natsu and Happy hijacked it.

"You know what, guys? I think I can handle this on my own," she said. After all, the cat, distinctively identified by the moon-shaped black spot on its white bottom, was just at the end of the alley, apparently hitting on some other cat. She just had to wait for it to be done and go back to its hiding place where, hopefully, she'd find the necklace.

"Don't be silly, Luce. Who'd be better at catching a cat than another cat?" Natsu said, looking at her like she was retarded.

She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know… a dog? That's what they do, isn't it?"

"Dogs are overrated," Happy commented. "They don't have wings."

"Neither do regular cats!"

But, suddenly, nobody was paying attention to her as the cat got on the move. "Look, it's climbing up the building! Let's follow it!"

Happy immediately sprouted the aforementioned wings and got a hold of the back of Natsu's vest, lifting him into the air.

"_Hey_!" Lucy shouted as they started to fly away after the cat. "_What about me?!_"

"Don't worry, Lucy, we'll get you the cat!"

"_I don't want the cat! I want the necklace!_"

"We'll get that too!" Natsu shouted back as they flew away. The cat moved swiftly, jumping from building to building apparently unaware that he was being followed from the air. "Hurry, Happy. This guy is fast!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed, speeding up a little. "Hey, Natsu, do you think we should have brought Lucy along? It's _her _job."

"Nah. You couldn't carry the both of us," the Dragon Slayer said. "Besides, she's too loud for ninja work. We'll get her the cat anyway."

"It's the necklace she wants, Natsu, not the cat," Happy reminded him. "Speaking of which, I can't see it anymore."

"Don't worry, I can smell it if we get a little closer to the surface. I'll guide you," Natsu said.

It took them a few minutes of flying around to finally spot the cat again, comfortably settled in an abandoned cardboard box at a top of a building.

"There you are, you little thief," Natsu said after Happy landed them on top of the building. He approached the cat with narrowed eyes, a flame on his hand as he tried to chase it away from the box. "Now scram while get Lucy's landlady's necklace back."

But the cat didn't move. It just sat on its box – over what seemed to be a pillow of loot, they could see, from jewelry to snow globes, as long as it was sparkly – immobile as he looked at Natsu defiantly, silently daring him to approach.

"What the hell?" Natsu mumbled. "You looking for a fight, klepto?"

It just stared back, daring as ever, which only served to anger Natsu further.

"Happy what's up with this punk? Is he crazy? I'm like ten times bigger than him!"

Finally, the cat meowed, although said 'meow' was directed to Happy rather than Natsu. The blue cat's eyes widened

"What is it? What did he say?"

Happy gulped. "He said he wants me to translate but… er, I don't think you need to hear it, Natsu. He's just looking for a fight," he told his best friend. Natsu did not seem satisfied, though, and kept waiting. Finally, Happy sighed. "He said… '_bring it… bitch'_."

And, just like that, Natsu was all fired up. "Well, now you're gonna get it, bastard," he screamed at the cat before printing towards it with a flaming fist. "Happy, look for the necklace. I'm gonna teach this bastard a less… _oooouuuuuuuuch!"_ he screamed as the cat leapt through the air and launched itself, claws first, into his face.

"Natsu!" Happy shouted.

"Just look for the necklace, Happy!" Natsu barked as he tried to keep the feline from tearing his face off.

Happy obeyed, unwilling to let his best friend's sacrifice become useless. He dug through the pile of loot in search for the necklace… only to find something like a dozen different ones. "Natsu, there's so many of them! I don't know which one Lucy is looking for!"

"Who cares? Tak'em all!" Natsu yelled, taking step after step back as he just barely managed to hold the squirming cat millimeters away from his face. "You stupid cat! We just want the necklace you stole!"

But the beastly cat kept aiming its claws at him, more and more fiercely. Natsu kept stumbling back while keeping it away… until his foot hit a low obstacle and he found himself losing his balance backwards… and then over the ledge… and then down from the building into the alley beneath.

"Happy!" he managed to scream before the freefall started. The enemy cat was startled too and stopped struggling. Like the coward it was, it scratched Natsu on the hands and managed to free itself, impossibly jumping off him and back onto the building.

As he plunged upside down onto the ground, everything seemed to go on slow motion. For a moment there, something caught his eye: light reflecting on something… ice. And, sitting on a window ledge in front of it, Gray, frozen in disbelief as he saw the whole thing happening like he was watching a lacrima movie. What was he doing there? And what the hell was hanging from his mouth? Was that…?

His fall came to an abrupt stop as Happy caught his foot mid-flight. "I've got you, Natsu!" the blue cat declared, a lot of bling hanging from his neck.

"I knew I could count on you, buddy!" Natsu replied, grinning wildly, Gray's presence having completely slipped his mind.

Happy, however… "Gray? What are you doing here?!"

"Shit," the ice-mage cursed.

And so, Natsu was reminded of the scene he'd just witnessed. Gray Fullbuster… _smoking. _"Hey! What do you think you're doing popsicle?!"

"_Shit_," he cursed again.

"I'm telling Erza! Just you wait! She'll lay it on you and I'll get to watch!"

"Goddamnit, Natsu!"

"Say your prayers, pervert!" he shouted victoriously. "To the guild, Happy!"

"I can't carry you that far! The Jewelry is too heavy!" Happy replied, raising their altitude with difficulty.

"Fine. First to Lucy, then to the Guild," Natsu agreed, narrowing his eyes at Gray, still upside down. "Guess you'll live five minutes longer."

Gray gulped.

* * *

"Here's your cake," Mira said with a smile, placing the plate containing it in front of Erza, whose eyes shone with joy. Still smiling, the white-haired woman turned to Jellal, who was sitting opposite from the redhead at the table, looking over a massive pile of paperwork. "Is there anything I can get you too, Jellal?"

He looked up and shook his head. "No, thank you, Mira. Not until I finish this, at least."

Mira sighed. "Shame on the Master, dumping the bulk of his paperwork on you. He must be so proud of himself."

"It's okay. I don't mind," Jellal assured her. It was only fair he helped around. He was, after all, the newest member of the guild and his very freedom had depended on him being accepted by it. So, really, filling paperwork for the Master was the least he could do, especially when he was still only partially mobile due to his injuries, which left him unable to take regular jobs and depending on the temporary free room and board Makarov had offered in return for his inside knowledge as a former councilman. "It's a way to make me feel useful while I'm still not allowed to take regular jobs."

"Well, whenever you feel like you can handle them and your doctors agree, don't let the Master try to convince you otherwise," Mira warned him. "He'll keep you on paperwork duty forever if he thinks he can get away with it. Laxus tells me he's getting far too comfortable in this paperwork vacation of his. Oh, if you knew the trouble he caused in the Cabaret by the train station… he's got far too much free time now," she informed him as she collected some abandoned plates and mugs from the nearest table.

The mention of the 'Cabaret near the train station', which he didn't even know existed up until then, had him blushing and completely blanking out on what to say. He was still mildly flustered when the sound that came out of Erza's mouth upon her first bite of the cake reached his ears. All of a sudden, he forgot everything about the cabaret. The sound… it was so… _pleasured_ it caused goosebumps on his skin. He forced himself to look back down at the paperwork to hide his blush.

Really, he should be used to it by now since Erza had sat by his side enjoying cake while he did his paperwork every day that she was physically present at the guild for the past month and a half but, for the life of him, he couldn't. Stoic as she was, the little sound of satisfaction never failed to leave her lips and there he'd sit, tense as hell, imagining other circumstances in which said sound might apply. _Bad Jellal_. He had no right to imagine such things. They might be guild mates now and their friendship might be stronger than ever and he may have even already admitted that he loved her but that leap… that precious leap into full-blown romance… it was yet to be taken. He couldn't be fantasizing about her before getting the guts to ask her out. That wasn't fair to her!

When was he going to ask her out? Well, probably around the time when he'd be able to get the words to come out of his mouth. And he wanted them out – he'd spent a month convincing himself that it was okay to slowly start courting her despite what he'd done because that was what she wanted and her happiness was above everything else in his world. But then, by the time he'd succeeded in convincing himself – around Valentine's day when Erza had gifted him enough chocolate to put him in a diabetic coma (an event only avoided because she'd ended up eating a fair amount of it herself) –, something would always happen to stop him: he'd freeze, unable to say the words, or he wouldn't and something or someone else would stop him… he was starting to get the feeling that maybe the universe itself didn't want it to happen. Maybe his fate was to just sit with her day after day, watching her eat cake without being able to make a move.

"Mira, how much of this is there still left at the freezer?" Erza asked, taking a second bite of the cake in question, oblivious to the thoughts in his mind.

"Enough for a week and a half, maybe," Mira said. "You might want to consider starting rationing it… You know, having one piece every other day rather than every single day. You can still have my strawberry cake whenever you want. I know it's not the same, but well…"

Erza pouted, looking at her cake longingly.

It wasn't just any other strawberry cake. Oh, no, it wasn't, Jellal thought. It was one of three cakes especially bought from some bakery with a year-and-a-half-long waiting list and a boatload of awards, which Mira had ordered just because she could with the money from the Grand Magic Games. After the Guild's year-long disbandment, everyone had forgotten about them up until the delivery, coincidentally on the very day that just happened to be Mystogan's tenth anniversary as an S-class mage - result: despite his masked counterpart being in a completely different dimension, the guild had decided to party hard and stuff themselves with super-expensive cake in his stead (according to Lucy, they had cost more than her monthly rent and were worth every penny, as far as Erza was concerned).

Unfortunately, one of the three cakes had met its end too soon when Natsu caused a fight that culminated on Gajeel being sent flying into said cake. Jellal could still remember the consequences of it.

It had been the day he'd left the hospital, still partially wheelchair-bound, and even before he'd been able to reach the guild and all its madness, the madness reached him in the form of Natsu falling at his feet after flying (forcibly) several yards from the guild. Erza had stepped into the scene almost immediately, clad in purgatory armor and swearing revenge on Natsu. Back then, he'd had no idea that Strawberry Cake in general was the number one contender for his title as Erza's most beloved.

"_It was innocent!"_ she'd shouted and, for a moment, Jellal had been certain the Dragon Slayer had done something appalling like feeding a newborn kitten to a wood chipper. But no – it had been no such thing. He'd smashed Erza's beloved cake. And for that, he'd be punished.

It had been equal parts terrifying and erotic watching the woman he loved beating up one of her friends (a friend who'd defeated him once, no less) over cake of all things, even if he'd been very set on fighting his feelings at the time… but the erotic trait of the matter had quickly faded when Gajeel had shown up, covered in cake, and the redhead had looked, for a single second, like she was considering eating it off him. There were no words to describe how thankful he'd been to Levy McGarden when she'd 'accidentally' used Solid Script: Water to wash the tempting cake off the Iron Dragon Slayer.

While heartbroken by the loss of her 'heavenly cake', the promise that any and all leftovers from the other two would be saved up for her alone was enough to get her out of her funk. And, surely, there were _a lot _of leftovers because everyone had been too freaked out to eat more than a tiny slice, if anything at all, because they didn't want Erza's wrath re-ignited.

But now, the leftovers were running out and Erza was looking at the cake mournfully all over again. He couldn't stand it. There was something… sacred about Erza's mood when she had strawberry cake, especially _that_ sort of strawberry cake. It being fouled by disappointment was unacceptable.

"It's okay. I'm sure it won't be the last time you'll ever get one of those cakes," he assured her. In fact, Mira had told him there would be another one for her birthday in three weeks but he couldn't just up and say it. "It wouldn't be so special if you ate it every day, would it?"

She looked at him, still pouting a little. "I suppose so…"

"Absence will make your heart grow founder?" _He _would know after the seven years he'd spent wondering if she was really dead.

"My fondness for this recipe of strawberry cake couldn't possibly grow any larger," she replied, the pout still present.

"Then maybe you should enjoy the time you have left with it. Isn't mourning the end in advance ruining the little time you have left together?" he suggested before frowning to himself. They were still talking about cake, right?

The pout started to slip. "That is a reasonable point," she admitted out loud before a look of determination reached her face, eyes shining. "I shall enjoy every bite that is left of this cake to the fullest," she vowed, illustrating said vow by forking another bit of cake into her mouth.

That time, there was no sound (that was reserved for that first bite when the recollection of the magnificent taste in her mind was initially confronted with the much better reality) but the look of delight on her face almost had him drooling. Did he have a thing for watching her eat cake? That sounded… bad. But not nearly as bad as the passing thought that crossed his mind, featuring her eating cake off his scantily clad body.

His eyes widened. _You sick, _sick _pervert! What is wrong with you? This is Erza you're thinking of! She is, by no means kinky! _

Little did he know…

"What's wrong?" Erza asked. "You're very red all of a sudden." Partially lifting herself off the chair she sat on, she reached across the table to feel his forehead and her touch did no favors to his current situation. "You're not running a fever…"

"Don't worry. It's nothing," he dismissed her worries, looking away.

He needed to cease having those thoughts. He blamed it on the frustration of finally being willing to express his feelings and nonetheless being constantly made unable to. He needed to get it over with soon. No, not soon. _Now._

_Just open your mouth and ask her on a date, _he demanded of himself. _Stop being a coward. You love Erza, Erza loves you – being together should be a given, so grow a pair!_

So, taking a breath, he obeyed and spoke. "I… I was actually thinking… I mean, I wondered if you'd like to maybe…"

"_Erza!"_ they heard Natsu calling at a distance.

Jellal nearly let out a sound of despair as Fire Dragon Slayer came running towards their table, Lucy and Happy following shortly behind. A curse. It was a curse. A deserved one, no less. But Erza… no, she most certainly did not deserve a curse. He'd fight it! If it was the last thing he did, he would… just as soon as he regained his courage, that was.

"Erza, you've got to come! He's doing it again!" Natsu said frantically.

"Who's doing what again?"

"Gray! He's smoking!"

It came as a surprise to Jellal that Gray even smoked. Of course, said surprised was overshadowed by Erza's ensuing reaction.

Her eyes widened in pure rage and her nostrils flared like she was about to breathe fire through then. The fury was such that she did the unthinkable. With a swift moment, she stabbed her fork though her beloved cake, effectively mutilating it, breaking the plate it rested on in half and leaving the fork sticking upright from the surface of the table.

Jellal could swear her eyes were blazing like lava – it felt like he was looking right at a demon from Zeref's book. And, God, did it feel so hot.

She rose from her bench slowly and her voice was positively murderous when she spoke. "Take me to him."

* * *

In hindsight, he should have just frozen Natsu into oblivion but the shock had been too much. That left only one other option: escape.

He packed as fast as he could, not even caring what went into the suitcase. It wasn't like he kept his clothing on very long, anyway. He just needed to get out of there and stay away until the dust settled. His life might depend on it.

He almost set fire to the whole bag once, so frantically he was smoking. He blamed it on the panic and, by extension, on Erza.

He ran out of his apartment building with his shirt already halfway open and dashed towards the train station while dragging his suitcase behind him, not even caring that there were sleeves and pant-legs sticking through the edges of it. He was too busy looking all around for Erza's approaching shape. She was going to kill him or at the very least maim him. He needed to beat her out of town if he wanted a chance to escape her wrath… Maybe if he came back after having kicked the habit, she would spare him from it. Shit… that was going to suck.

But even with that thought on his mind, he smoked a quarter of a pack while rushing to the station, which took a decent amount of effort because it started raining buckets about halfway there.

"I need a ticket," he told the attendant, still soaking wet.

"What is your destination?"

"Anywhere, man! Get me on the next train leaving this place. Just do it fast!" he said, reaching into his pack for yet another cigarette.

"Sir, you can't smoke in here," the attendant said.

"_No. You really can't," _he heard said behind him.

He froze before even turning around. _Erza._ Slowly, he moved to face her. She wasn't alone. Those fucking traitors, Natsu and Happy, were with her, as well as Lucy, who was frowning at him too. "H-hey," he awkwardly said, the cigarette sting dangling from his mouth.

Unceremoniously, Erza pulled it out and broke it in half in a way that suggested his spine might be next. "Going somewhere?" she asked coyly.

"Oh, you know… just… around," he rambled, surprised she hadn't started yelling yet.

"And you need a train ticket to 'get around'?" Lucy asked. Natsu nodded, an evil glint in his eyes.

"I thought I might… visit a few neighboring towns in the process," he mumbled.

"And stink'em up with those smoking sticks of yours?" Natsu taunted him.

It annoyed him to no end. "Go buy a dictionary, you fire-breathing moron! They're called cigarettes!" he replied.

Saying that was a mistake. A big one. "Yes, you would know, wouldn't you?" Erza commented, her eyes narrowed to slits. He could practically see the fire burning behind her eyelids.

"Hmm, actually, most people would know that, not just Gray because he smokes," Happy commented in the background.

But he was ignored. The atmosphere in that station was so heavy he felt like gravity might turn him into a pancake. The air felt as if it was rarefying, making it hard to breathe. He needed to leave. God, he needed to leave and have himself a smoke. Towards his left, a train was just starting to leave the platform and he glanced at it, wondering if he might be able to get in and make a run for it if he ran fast enough.

"Don't bother," Erza told him, as if reading his mind. "You won't stay conscious long enough."

"What?"

But, before another word could be said, he saw an armor-clad fist making its way to his face and that was basically the last thing he saw before everything became black.

**To be continued...**


	2. The Punishment

**A/N: Has references to my one-shot The Rollercoaster. **

**Warning: Erza and Mira go illegal and Gray has his head messed with! This is where it gets (kinda) controversial.**

_**Chapter 2/2**_

As they waited for Erza to return with Gray, the bulk of the guild stood at the building's large doors, secluded from the rain outside.

Jellal didn't join them, still somewhat lacking in balance and finding the entire situation a tad too exaggerated. So, Gray smoked… True, it was a terribly unhealthy habit but not that much worse than, say, Cana's drinking or Droy's overeating, which everyone seemed to accept aside from occasional snide comments. So, really, he couldn't help thinking Juvia's hysterical crying in the background, which was apparently the reason for the massive shower going on outside, and Erza's violent reaction was a little bit… overkill. But then again, that was Fairy Tail – most things seemed to find a way to be exaggerated in it.

It was about ten minutes after she left that Erza returned with a stern look on her face and an unconscious, soaking wet Gray along with her, being carried by Natsu and Loke as Happy and Lucy followed. The bloody nose on the ice mage's face didn't come amiss for all of them.

"You can take him to the storage room," Erza told them in a commanding tone. "Freed, I will require a rune barrier around him to keep him from trying to run away. Juvia…"

"Juvia will go too and look after Gray-sama! She will not let him smoke!" the water mage announced before Erza could ask it of her, recomposing herself in a flash and following after the other three. Wendy didn't take long to follow, taking note of Gray's broken face being in need of healing.

Erza nodded, satisfied with the arrangement.

"Really, Erza, did you have to knock him unconscious?" Bisca asked with a sigh.

"I will not tolerate addiction in my team!" she said in a firm, righteous manner.

"Oh, yeah, what do you call your relationship with cake, then?" Laxus replied from the bar, snorting.

She narrowed her eyes. "What exactly are you hinting at?"

"I don't think there's any hinting involved here," he pointed out. "Doesn't beating people up over dessert speak for itself?"

Erza glared and seemed tempted to punish him for his words until Mirajane spoke. "So, what do you plan to do about Gray's smoking habit this time?" the white-haired woman asked.

The redhead sighed, returning to the seat she'd been previously occupying across the table from Jellal. No one seemed to mind that action much and soon he found his table both occupied and surrounded by his curious guild mates, who were eager to learn of Erza's plan. "I'm not sure," she confessed.

"'Course you are. You'll just beat it out of him again. Hey, can I help this time?" Natsu declared as he and Lucy returned from the storage room and joined the crowd. He seemed to have found an interesting snack in Gray's matches, lighting them up one after another and eating them like bite-sized food sticking from a toothpick.

"Beat it out of him? Wait… _again_?" Jellal asked, mildly alarmed. Terrifying thoughts and erotic ones mingled in his mind again. _No! Stop it, you idiot! It isn't right!_

Oblivious to the thoughts in Jellal's head, Erza sighed. "I don't think it will be that easy this time. Clearly, the threat of bodily harm no longer works on him as well as it used to. We'll need something new this time," she stated.

"How about alternative nicotine sources? Like gum or patches…" Jellal reasonably suggested.

"No, that's not quick enough," she immediately stated. "I can't trust him to go home and follow through. It took a lot of pain to get him on the line last time."

"Pain?" Jellal asked, once again both alarmed and turned on. He was ignored.

"Well, it's not like we can just flick a switch, Erza," Lucy argued. "He's a person, not a machine."

"A real man would quit with no problem!" Elfman declared.

"A real man will be turned into a statue if he says the word 'man' in front of me another time today," Evergreen responded.

"Uhh, Ever called him a 'real man'," Bickslow teased, trolling as always. "Must be love."

"Love! Love!" his babies echoed.

Evergreen threw her fan at the flying dolls. "Shut up!"

"Elfman's right. Gray should just buck up and quit cold turkey," Cana observed. "I mean, he's not doing his health any favors."

Everyone stared at the bespoken Guild Drunk – who, in fact, had just started drinking straight from a barrel.

"Because your drinking surely _must be_ doing wonders to yours," Freed sarcastically remarked, voicing everyone's thoughts just as he returned from the storage where he'd just imprisoned Gray, accompanied by Wendy.

Cana's response was some rambling about a 'titanium liver' and 'baffled medical researchers' against her barrel.

"I guess we could just lock him up until the nicotine is out of his system," Erza pondered. "Two… three weeks should do. Maybe four just to be sure. Longer than I'd planned but the controlled environment should do the job."

"Erza, how about we exhaust all other possibilities before resorting to imprisonment?" Lucy suggested.

"I still think we should rough him up a little," Natsu stated, earning himself an elbow in the gut from Lucy.

"How 'bout some shock therapy?" Bickslow suggested. "I'm sure Laxus would be happy to provide the lightening."

"Feh," the Dragon Slayer in question mumbled, expressing his lack of interest even though he _had_ taken the trouble of getting up from the bar and moving closer to the gathering. By his side, Mira just giggled.

"Yes, Bickslow, let's save Gray's lungs and give him brain damage instead," Lisanna replied sarcastically. "That's just what he needs."

Gajeel, of course, had to do his own contribution. "Gihi! Stripper probably doesn't use it that much, anyway."

"Gajeel!" Levy scolded her boyfriend.

"We could scare it out of him instead," Meredy suggested. Her eyes were twinkling in a way that alarmed Jellal. That was never a good sign.

"Er… Meredy," he tried to intervene.

But it was too late. She was on a roll. "We could go looking around in the hospital for some random person who's completely messed up inside and then I could make a sensory link to Gray and convince him it was all because of smoking! He'd never touch the stuff again if he thought he was really sick!"

Everyone was silent for several seconds, looking at the pink-haired girl in horror.

"Using a sick person? That is _cold_," Evergreen broke the silence. "I like it."

"Gee, pinkie, if you go around saying stuff like that, you'll take my place as the psychopath in the team," Cobra commented in a mocking manner.

Jellal just sighed, used to it. For all her current sweetness, Meredy _had_ spent a part of her formative years being indoctrinated by Grimoire Heart. It showed rarely but when it did, it was through moments such as that one, in which she got so caught up in whatever she was in the middle of that when she opened her mouth she seemed to have no tact or sense of right and wrong. Thankfully, she always got a hold of herself before it became… well, dangerous.

And so, suddenly, she gasped, wide-eyed and covered her mouth in horror. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry! What am I saying?! This is horrible!"

"That's okay, we all have dark moments every once in a while," Mira said, patting her shoulder understandingly.

"I'm so sorry!" Meredy apologized again for her suggestion, looking like she might actually cry.

Cana spoke for everyone. "Whatever. No harm, no foul. That is, as long as Erza isn't nuts enough to follow through with that."

Everyone looked at the redhead expectantly but she didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation anymore. Instead, she was glaring at a member of the duo chatting by the Guild's doors, Macao and Wakaba, as the former busied himself by shaking most of the water out of his umbrella so it wouldn't drip all over the guild. Once Wakaba, whose front had been turned away from them until then, walked in with his pipe hanging from his mouth, the group understood the source of Erza's annoyance.

"Wakaba, go use that filthy thing outside!" the redhead demanded in a shout, pointing her ginger at the pipe in an accusing way. "You may get some form of a free card when it comes to smoking because you're a smoke mage but that doesn't mean you can submit other people to it!"

"Calm down, Erza. I haven't even lit it up," he replied, walking over with his best friend on a tow. "What's with the gathering? Did something happen?"

"Gray is smoking again," Lucy replied. "Erza is not happy about it."

"It's not a matter of being happy or unhappy about it," Erza replied. "He's ruining his heath and a compromised physical condition will hinder the team's success, therefore he is quitting. That's a given."

Macao chuckled. "You know, maybe you should get in touch with Wakaba's wife for that," he said. "She's been trying to get _him _to quit for something like twenty years."

"And she hasn't succeeded yet?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

"She did once," Wakaba told her. "But, like Erza said, I'm a smoke mage. I _need_ smoke, so I couldn't let it last."

"So, she _didn't_ succeed," Erza corrected him.

"No, she did," Macao replied. "She paid a guy to hypnotize the habit out of him and it actually worked, so this bastard paid him triple to reverse it."

"It cost me five-months-worth of my tobacco budget too," Wakaba provided. "I had to work my ass off to repay it."

"So hypnosis can work," Erza thought out loud. "Are you, by any chance, in touch with that hypnosis mage you met, Wakaba?"

"Of course not," he stated. "The guy was a wanderer. For all I know, he's in another continent right now."

"We could find another one," she mumbled.

"I don't think so," Jellal spoke up. "Authentic hypnosis magic is considered a form of mind control and mind control is highly regulated by the council. You wouldn't find many Hypnosis mages advertising their services that easily. Not in honest circles, at least."

"Jellal has a point," Levy agreed. "Odds are you would end up hiring a hundred crooks before finding someone legitimately gifted."

But Erza didn't respond. She seemed far too lost in thought, her head turned sideways, eyes narrowed.

"Hey, Erza! Erza!" Natsu called, trying to get her attention. When trying to reach her through her ears didn't work, he went for the eyes instead, partially blocking her view with his hands… and, like the idiot he was, he made a point of trying his luck by waving a rather obscene sign in front of her.

Immediately, Erza grabbed the hand and twisted the upturned finger with such a force that it had Natsu screaming and his eyes rolling to the back of his head before he fell on his knees, just barely conscious.

"Idiot!" Lucy said as she caught him. "You were just asking for that."

"Holy crap, Erza!" someone shouted.

But, again, she didn't respond, barely paying attention to Natsu's howls over his sprained finger. And yet, she wasn't completely withdrawn. In fact, she was looking. Just looking at the person she just happened to be facing. Mirajane.

She got up in a flash.

"I know how to handle this!" she announced out loud just as the Master walked into the Guild, having just returned from one of his Guild Master conferences.

Upon seeing the gathered group, he glared. "Handle what? And what are you brats all gathered up for? Why do I feel like this is going to end up costing me money?!"

"You won't need to spend a jewel, Master," Erza declared before grabbing Mirajane's arm and pulling her behind her as she walked towards the kitchen. "Mira, I'll require your assistance."

* * *

The first thing Gray did after waking up with a massive headache was reaching for his face, half-expecting there to be a crater in the center of it. That wasn't the case.

"Gray-sama," he heard Juvia's voice asking from nearby. "Are you okay? Wendy-san fixed your nose. Does it still hurt?"

He opened his eyes and blinked, finding himself sprawled on a stretch of floor tucked in the corner of the guild's storage room and Juvia kneeling by his side, looking at him with concern.

"Gray-sama?"

"How did I get here?" he asked, trying to sit up.

"Erza-san, Natsu-san and Love Rival brought you in unconscious," she replied before her face shifted into a pout. "Gray-sama smoked," she mumbled.

He groaned and moved to get back on his feet, just remembering how much trouble he was in for smoking, which made him want to smoke even more. "Crap, I need to get out of this place."

"Wait, Gray-sama…"

He took one step towards the door, then another and then… he hit the invisible wall. "What the…?" he mumbled. "Runes?"

"Freed-san put them in place," Juvia confirmed, stepping away. "It's for Gray-sama's own good."

"My own good?!" he asked in disbelief. "What the hell, Juvia? Did Erza put the rest of you guys up to this?"

"Erza-san is only trying to help Gray-sama," Juvia informed him.

"Help? She nearly punched a hole through my face!"

"Gray-sama was smoking," she said again.

"Well, so what? It's not like I'm doing anything illegal like getting high or even getting drunk! I'm just smoking!" he said, throwing his arms up in frustration before turning his back on her. "And why do you even care? I thought you were fine with me doing just about anything I feel like as long as it didn't involve looking at girls that aren't you!"

Immediately, the room became very… humid. Like it might just rain indoors. _Oh, crap,_ he thought, daring to turn around.

She was glaring at him. Juvia. Glaring. At _him_. He didn't think such a thing had happened since he had called her 'gloomy' during their fight back when she was still in Phantom. It was easy to forget she could be pretty scary when she spent most of her time gushing over him but it didn't make it any less… impressive. Clearly, he'd pressed the wrong button.

"Er… Juvia…" he tried to say.

"Juvia is _not_ just a blind fangirl of Gray-sama's!" she shouted, sounding very, very angry. "Juvia cares for Gray-sama! She worries about Gray-sama's health. Fath… Silver-sama asked Juvia to look after Gray-sama and Juvia intends to follow his wish. If Juvia had a say about it, she'd do so by being with Gray-sama forever but even if… if Gray-sama decides he'd rather spend his forever with somebody else, Juvia still cares that he's making it shorter!"

He only stared at her for what felt like hours. Her words touched him in a way he wouldn't be caught dead admitting out loud because he knew that Juvia wishing him well on a potential future with somebody else must feel like having her teeth pulled out. He'd screwed up, he admitted to himself. He'd had no business snapping at Juvia like that. So, he said what he had to say.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, making a point of looking away. "You didn't ask to be snapped at."

"Juvia wasn't fishing for an apology," she replied softly. "But she forgives Gray-sama."

He didn't allow himself to linger in the relief that brought him. He had more important things to address. "My Dad really told you to look after me?" he asked. She had mentioned before that he had talked to her in her head, told her that she needed to defeat Keith even if it cost him his life, if his state could even be classified as 'alive'. But she hadn't said anything about a last request…

"Juvia didn't mention it because she didn't want Gray-sama to feel embarrassed," she mumbled.

Blasted old man, he thought. He'd probably said plenty more too. Gray vaguely remembered how much of a tease his father had been once upon a time – in his memories, his mother had been stuck in a constant state of blushing because of his bantering. Gray could think of worse people his father might have told to look after him but still… damn geezer couldn't mind his own business. "Well, it's kind of his fault I'm smoking in the first place," Gray said. "That whole stunt he pulled… being dead, being alive, being Deliora, not being Deliora, being undead, then being definitely dead… and I'm not even going to get to how fucked up that whole… Tartarus shit turned out in the end after he crossed over… anyway, that would mess with anybody's head. I could be doing way worse than smoking! I could be going on a goddamn bender or having a complete meltdown!"

"But Gray-sama is doing it all wrong! Gray-sama has so many friends! If Gray-sama is feeling down, he should tell them about it and let them help," she replied. Friendship worked wonders. _She_ would know.

He looked away. "You know that's not really how I roll."

Juvia frowned. "So, instead, Gray-sama smokes?" she replied.

He shrugged. "It takes the edge off."

"Not for long," she pointed out. "Does Gray-sama even _like_ smoking? Outside of…"

Again, he made another shrug. "It's an acquired taste."

She frowned. He didn't even like it! He was just using smoking as an escape not to face his problems. "Tartarus hurt a lot of people in the Guild. Gray-sama shouldn't try to pretend he's not one of them – it will only hurt him more. And if Gray-sama isn't comfortable with asking his friends for help, then he should spend his money on someone who will, not on cigarettes."

"What? Like a therapist?"

"If Gray-sama is smoking because of his feelings, then yes!" Juvia replied. "Smoking is expensive, Gray-sama! If Gray-sama can afford it, then he could afford one too."

There was no end to the irony of _Juvia_, of all people, telling him to go see a shrink. God, he must be pretty bad. "Have _you _ever seen one?" he found himself asking.

Juvia blushed. "Yes. But friends work better with Juvia. Therapists don't understand her. They tend to focus too much on Juvia's love for Gray-sama."

By which he supposed she meant her… obsessive tendencies, which would make alarm bells sound in the head of any respectable shrink in the world. Not, he added in his mind, that he thought there was an actual danger to it. It was annoying at times but he found himself a little uneasy when a day went by and he didn't spot her peering at him from behind a pillar or accusing girls of being her love-rivals. He didn't like to overthink about the 'why' for that.

"Will Gray-sama at least try?"

He guessed she might have a point in what she'd said – he wasn't blind to the fact that smoking wouldn't solve anything. Heck, it might make him feel good for the few minutes it lasted but at the end of the day he'd still be reeling on… well, everything. Not just the stuff with his old man and Tartarus but also much farther back with Ultear, Ur and the actual Deliora, which he had never quite fully healed from. Maybe she was right and he needed to quit acting like he was above it all when he really wasn't. He wasn't sure about the shrink or the sharing but he could convince himself to not bottle everything up.

As for smoking, it wasn't like he was opposed to the idea of quitting – heck, he'd been confronted with it several times that day already. "Look, it's not like I plan to smoke forever," he informed Juvia. "It's too much work, anyway – I've been jogging my ass off to keep my stamina up so I wouldn't slip in missions. But there's the physical part of quitting, you know? Keeping your will through withdrawal is a freaking nightmare. I need to do it at my own pace."

"_Your own pace is awful. That's why we're here to help you_," Erza stated just as she opened the door and walked into the room with Mira in a tow. Obviously, they had overheard quite a portion of the conversation.

"Goddamnit, Erza! If you're here to try to beat it out of me again…" Gray said loudly.

"Well, it didn't last after I tried it last time, did it?" she replied. "It would be senseless of me to try it again."

"What are you doing, then?"

Mira cleared her throat. "I would be a little more comfortable if Juvia wasn't here to witness it," she said, looking a little edgy.

Cue alarm bells sounding in Gray's mind.

"Would it be too much to ask you that you step out for a moment?" Erza requested of the water mage. "This should be quick."

Juvia looked at the two suspiciously.

Despite her apparent uneasiness, Mira smiled. "Oh, don't worry, Juvia, we're not your love rivals," she assured her. "We're on your side. And besides, we're both quite taken."

Erza blushed. "W-what?" Were her feelings for Jellal that obvious?

Gray snorted. "Even _I _can see it," he answered her unspoken question.

Erza glared just as Juvia spoke up. "Juvia doesn't doubt that. She just wants to be sure that Erza-san won't hurt Gray-sama when he's down."

"Rest assured we have no plans to physically harm him," Erza told her. "We're only trying to make quitting more… clear-cut for him."

And, once again, alarm bells for Gray.

The water mage sighed in relief. "Well, that's all Juvia needs to know. Please help Gray-sama in his struggle."

"Wait… did you say _physically_?" he intervened.

…

And that was the last thing he remembered saying before finding himself sitting on the floor, his back against the wall, no sign of Mira or Juvia in the room. No part of his body particularly hurt, which made him wonder how he'd blacked out in the first place.

"… the hell?" he mumbled.

"Oh, good, you're back," Erza said unceremoniously, getting up from the chair she'd sat on.

He looked at her in disbelief for a moment before glaring as he attempted to get up. "Shit, Erza! Did you knock me out again? You're killing my brain! I can't even remember how did it this time!"

She didn't seem bothered by his words in the slightest. "Don't worry. We were very gentle this time."

"Gentle?! You put me unconscious!" he shouted.

"Not really," she mumbled before reaching for something within her pocket. It was one of his cigarettes. "There you go," she said, handing it to him.

He frowned, stepping back without taking it. "Are you mocking me? Is this some sort of twisted test where you punch me if I reach for it?"

She raised an eyebrow. "No, Gray, this is your last cigarette ever," the redhead informed him. "We had Freed remove the runes around you, so you can step out whenever you feel like it. We'll talk about how you're quitting afterwards."

He hesitated for a moment. "This is awfully understanding of you," he said, skeptical.

"I suppose you can thank Mira's intervention for my willingness to let you have it," she stated. "But resign yourself to the fact that this is _the_ very last cigarette you're allowed to smoke under my watch. Now take it before I change my mind!"

Convinced by her mention of Mira he did and held it behind his back so Erza wouldn't be tempted to snap it in a fury. "So, I can just…?"

"You'll have to borrow matches or a lighter from someone because Natsu ate all of yours," Erza pointed out.

"That moron…" he mumbled, shaking his head. "Anyway, about what you may have heard from Juvia…"

"She's right," the redhead said before he could finish. "You've picked up this filthy habit for horribly sad reasons but at the end of the day, it's just a useless crutch. You don't need it. You're stronger than that and if your sadness makes you feel weak, it is only because you're letting it by keeping it all in."

Although the words were harsh, he wouldn't have expected any different from Erza. In fact, coming from her, they actually felt a little bit… gentle.

"Right… Then, just to be sure, this cigarette isn't rigged to explode on my face, right?"

She gave him a look. "Of course not. We promised Juvia we wouldn't physically hurt you. I intend to keep that promise," she pointed out.

"Fine, then," he said. "Look, I've got a good idea of what you'll do to me if this doesn't turn out to be my last cigarette ever but, even if that's the case, I'd like to say for the record that I would be okay if it was. Mentally. You know, before I'm crawling up the walls screaming for some more nicotine."

"You know, things that are supposed to be hard can actually turn out to be very easy with the right sort of encouragement," Erza pointed out.

He snorted. "Whatever you say, Erza," he replied, unconvinced.

She smirked behind his back. He had _no _idea.

* * *

As Gray walked out with the permitted cigarette and a borrowed lighter in his hands, Erza made her way back to her seat opposite Jellal, ignoring the looks she was being given.

"Erza," he spoke hesitatingly. "Gray has got a cigarette."

"I know," she said.

"I think he's seconds away from smoking it," Jellal warned her.

"I know that too," she replied calmly.

He blinked, puzzled. "What… what exactly brought that change of mind on?"

"Nothing."

He furrowed his brows. "What do you mean 'nothing'?"

"I didn't change my mind," she explained.

As if on cue, a very, very loud scream was heard from outside. "_Nooooooooooooooooooo!"_ And, also immediately, Juvia could be seen running out of the guild, shouting for her Gray-sama, the rest of their guild mates on tow. Well, except for Jellal, due to being shocked out of his mind, as well as Mira and Erza, who were likely responsible for the shout in question.

He blinked, his eyes on Erza. What had she done? She... she was Erza. Erza Scarlet. The very embodiment of the path of light. What could she have possibly done to cause such an inhuman cry from one of her closest friends?

"E… Erza," Jellal gasped.

"He's not hurt," she said. "Maybe slightly mentally scarred but it's for the better good."

Gray didn't appear to agree. He marched into the guild, looking pale as a ghost and with an eye twitching incessantly, and walked right over to their table, followed by a weepy Juvia who shot Erza looks of betrayal.

"What have you done to me?!" he asked in a furious whisper, barely able to use his voice.

Erza remained calm. "You will have to be more specific as to what you're referring to," she stated.

His traumatized eyes widened. "You… my head… it… it's filled with… _wrong_… so much wrong! Disgusting! _What have you done to me?!"_

"It's for your own good, Gray," she told him simply.

"Are you telling me this will happen every time I…?"

"Attempt to smoke?" she asked. "Yes, that will be the case. And please don't go around trying to find other vices to channel your frustration into because you'll just get the same treatment. In fact, we might actually consider taking it up a notch."

"What notch?! You're telling me you and Mira can actually do worse than this? How?!"

"Interaction," she replied.

Gray frowned. "Interaction?!"

"Between those images in your head. You know, nak…"

"I know what those images are!" he shouted. "You don't need to remind me." But it didn't seem to dawn to him what that suggested interaction meant until a few moments later. Immediately, he shot her a look of horror and took a step back, actually bumping into Juvia. Then, he pointed an accusatory, shaky finger at her. "There's something wrong with you. _Really wrong, Erza!"_ Then, he proceeded to turn to Jellal, who sat stunned watching the scene. "Get away from her. Seriously, run while you can. She's diabolical!"

Jellal blinked, confused, as the Ice Mage… wait, _Demon Slayer_ left the guild in search for nicotine patches, followed by an extremely apologetic Juvia.

The whole guild stared, not only at her but also at Mira, who remained happily polishing glasses at the bar. "What the hell have you done to him?" Cana asked, speaking for everyone.

"Mirajane and I would rather keep our methods to ourselves," she stated cryptically.

The Master shook his head. "That had better not cause permanent damage on that boy, Erza."

"Don't worry, Master," she replied. "And rest assured that his smoking habit will likely never return."

Everyone seemed both impressed and horrified, Jellal most of all. He struggled to look down, attempting to obbey and once again pay attention to his paperwork rather than the worrisome thoughts about what Erza might have done. It couldn't be _that _bad. It was _Erza._

"_You_ can ask," she said, her voice low. He looked up and found her glancing around herself to make sure their guild mates weren't hearing. When her eyes met his, she blushed a little and looked down. "After all, you're relatively new to the guild," she quickly excused herself. "I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea about what happened."

He blushed a little bit too, recognizing the sign of special treatment. "O-okay," he mumbled before daring to ask. "So… what exactly did you and Mirajane do to Gray?"

"Well…"

* * *

**Ten minutes earlier**

"Wait… did you say _physically?_" Gray asked in alarm. He looked at Juvia for support but saw she had already walked out. What? What the hell? Wasn't she supposed to be his fiercest protector? Why was she leaving him now? Especially to _them_?

Gulping, he found himself facing Titania and the She-Demon looking at him in an extremely analytic way.

"Whenever you feel like starting, Mira," Erza prompted.

"I don't know, Erza," she said, eyeing Gray skeptically. "I'm still not sure this is completely morally acceptable."

"It's not!" Gray shouted. "If Mira doubts it, then it's not. Problem solved – let's not do whatever you want to do to me. I'll quit. Just give me some time!"

"_Quiet!_" Erza barked before looking at Mirajane again. "I agree this stands in a moral gray area, Mira, but once doing it is in the best interests of a friend, we simply can't ignore it. Gray is ruining his health and he doesn't have the self-control to stop doing it quickly enough – what sort of friends would we be if we had a way to work around that and we didn't use it?"

"Very good ones… yikes!" he screeched when Erza summoned a sword out of nowhere and pointed it at him, _encouraging his silence._

Mira scratched her chin. "Well, when you put it like that…" she mumbled. "Alright. I'll do it."

"Don't listen to her, Mira! She's crazy!" he shouted, glaring at Erza.

Mira gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Gray. It won't hurt a bit," she said, looking him right in the eyes.

"_What won't hurt a bit?! What are you gonna do?!_" he asked in a panic.

"Don't worry," she said, keeping eye contact. "There, the link is formed."

"Are you sure? That was less dramatic than I expected," Erza commented.

"_What link?! What does that mean_?" Gray demanded.

"I think so. I've never really tried it on anyone but Elfman before and the link was already formed then, so I'm not sure how effective it will be," Mira informed Erza, ignoring the protesting Demon Slayer.

"Maybe we should give it a trial run before we get to the important part," Erza suggested as Gray kept demanding their attention in the background. "Make him do something."

"Do something…" Mira mumbled, deep in thought.

"Stop it! Are you just trying to freak me out? You haven't really done anything, have you? You're just playing mind games! Well, it's not going to work," Gray announced proudly. That was, before noticing that, for whatever reason, he had his arms raised up in the air. "What the hell?" he mumbled, trying to get them down.

He couldn't get them to move.

It wasn't as if something was holding his arms in place – he simply couldn't get the message for them to do so to move all the way from his brain to his arms! Something was going on. Something… He paused and, in terror, looked at the two S-Class mages in front of him. "What the hell have you just done to me?!"

"I created a Macro link," Mira happily said. "It allows me to control you."

"What?!" Gray shouted. "Since when can you do crap like this?"

"Since Tartarus," she told him. "I used my Take Over to get it from a member of the Nine Demon Gates, Sayla. You probably didn't meet her. You didn't miss much – she wasn't a gracious host."

He gaped at Mira, then at Erza, and again back at Mira. "So, let me get this straight: you are using magic that you got from a demon on _me_. A Demon Slayer!"

"I can see the irony but it seems to work just fine, regardless. Besides, almost all of my magic came from demons," Mira happily pointed out.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?! What's the point of this?"

"The point is that I won't tolerate a close friend of mine channeling his inner pain into unhealthy habits such as smoking," Erza explained. "Consider this a very active intervention. Now, quit struggling, Gray. This is for your own good."

"My own good? You're seconds away from doing some demon mumbo-jumbo to my head! That is not for _anyone's_ good," he desperately protested.

"You are being extremely prejudiced against demon powers," Erza scolded him.

He eyed her like she was crazy. "Are you freaking kidding me, Erza?!"

She sighed. "He's getting far too noisy, Mira. Maybe you should quiet him down," Erza suggested. "Mavis knows what the others outside must be thinking of this commotion…"

And, once Gray tried to protest the suggestion, he was already too late. His mouth wouldn't obey him, just as his arms didn't.

"Done!" Mira announced happily.

"Good. Now, on to the important part," Erza said, satisfied. She eyed Gray and saw he was staring at them like they were absolutely crazy and his life might just be in jeopardy. With that, she sighed. "Don't give us that look, Gray. We are merely going to help you really want to stop smoking."

"That's right," Mira agreed. "And for that, we'll make you associate the thought of smoking with things that you'd find… well, repulsive."

"Like being defeated by Natsu repeatedly," Erza provided. "Or eating extremely spicy foods."

"Juvia marrying Lyon and having dozens of children with him!" Mirajane added.

"Suggestive imagery you most certainly wouldn't find appealing," she informed him, not going into too much detail. She didn't want to ruin the surprise.

"Global warming!" Mira shouted, excited.

…

"What?" asked Erza, confused.

"He's an ice mage," the Demon replied. "He ought to be upset by the polar caps melting."

Erza's face was blank for a moment before she finally sobered up and nodded. "This and many other things. I'm sure by now you get the picture of what we're referring to."

All through the exchange, Gray could only sit there and stare in horror. It was a nightmare. He was sleeping – yes, that was it. He _had _to be sleeping because what they were telling him was just too horrible to be real.

"Now, Mira, if you will," Erza prompted.

"Okay," Mirajane replied, once again turning to Gray and looking him in the eyes. It was about five seconds after eye-contact was made that he realized the action of looking into his eyes was probably important in the process of messing with his head. But, by the time he closed them, it was too late. "There, it's done."

Erza frowned. "Honestly, I find that power of yours very underwhelming. I imagined there would be some sort of effect. Like sparkles or something of the sort."

"I can add sparkles if you'd like," Mira suggested.

Erza sighed. "No, never mind. As long as you're certain it has worked."

"Well, I can't be one hundred percent. Like I said, this power is very new and I don't use it often. I wouldn't know until we tested it."

Erza scratched her chin. "Tested, you say?"

"We'd have to let him try to smoke at least once for this," Mira specified.

"But he's hearing everything we say. He could very easily pretend he simply can't smoke and then go on his merry way to do it behind our backs again."

Mira sighed. "You're right," she admitted, pensive. But then, a few seconds later, her face lit up. "_Or_ I could make him forget this happened. I could make him feel like he'd blacked out shortly after we came in and had just woken up."

"Wouldn't he forget the orders if you did that?"

"Not necessarily. I could try to work around that."

"Well, if you're sure…" Erza said.

* * *

**Present time**

Jellal stared at her with wide eyes, mouth hanging half-open. He couldn't help thinking that Gray might be right: Erza _was_ diabolical. And Mavis helped him if he didn't find that extremely… attractive. What was wrong with him? Had he just found yet another thing to lust after her for?

"That's illegal," he pointed out, although that was the least of his worries. "Very illegal."

"Only if the council finds out," she replied in a rather careless manner that he had to admit he hadn't expected from her. She seemed like such a stickler for the rules. But then again, he had met her several times after escaping prison and she's never once told on him.

"So, those images in his head…" Jellal prompted.

"That, I cannot tell you about," she said, blushing deeply. "You don't deserve that kind of trauma."

His eyes widened. Good god… he could only imagine how bad it was that she wanted to hide it after she'd just shamelessly told him about her and Mira's extremely illegal and somewhat morally reprehensible (yet good-intentioned) ventures.

"To be honest, it probably won't last very long," Erza informed him. "That trigger Mira created, I mean. She started feeling that the Macro connection put quite the strain into her magic almost as soon as she cast it. Hopefully, by the time she's unable to hold it anymore, Gray will be too fearful of the possibility of images appearing again to even try smoking."

He nodded in understanding. "So, that's why she didn't plainly order him to quit smoking for good," he concluded.

"Yes. Mira wasn't sure how long she could hold it," Erza confirmed. "I know the moral standing of this is questionable at best but…"

"… as far as mind-control goes, I can think of several worse uses for it," Jellal assured her. He knew it more than anyone, even though he didn't care to admit it often. He had forgiven Ultear for her inability to resist the manipulation that had led to her keeping him in her control for years but there was no excuse for Hades' actions as he pulled her strings and by extension, his. Of course, he still couldn't dissociate himself from the actions he committed back then. Ultimately, he would always blame himself above Hades – that was the strain mind-control left on a person. "Still, Mira should really avoid resorting to this… ability of hers unless it's a matter of life and death. Mind-control is dark on itself. And, like I said, the council keeps it in a tight leash. Legally speaking, Mirajane would be obligated to report her new powers as soon as they manifested but, personally, I'd say she should keep quiet even though the penalty for lack of registration is high. As soon as the council knows, they either drag you to work for them or they watch you like a criminal for the rest of your life… at least that's what it was like in the old days. She should set it aside, as long as she is able to get by on her other powers."

Erza nodded seriously. "I did not know about that. I'll make sure to pass the information along to Mira. In any case, she was reluctant to use it in the first place. I don't think she's planning to make it a habit."

"It's for the best," he said with a nod.

"Yes," she agreed before going silent for several seconds. At some point, she looked down at the surface of the table and let out a mournful sigh, brushing her fingers over the four little dents her fork had made on the table when she'd so lividly stabbed it through her plate. "Such a waste of wonderful cake…" she mumbled.

Her words reminded him of something. "Oh, about that…" he said, before turning around in search for Mira or Kinana. He found the latter serving some sort of fruity drink to Freed and Evergreen and only had to make a gesture for her to know what he wanted. She gestured back for him to wait and retreated into the kitchen.

Erza frowned when he faced her again. "What is this about?"

"Just give it a minute. You will know soon enough," he promised.

The minute actually became a minute and fifteen seconds and she was about to impatiently protest when Kinana finally appeared and planted a plate in front of her containing… no, it couldn't be… "Is this…?"

It was her cake. The cake she had mutilated before, although it wasn't mutilated at all. For a moment, she wondered if it was a different slice but she recognized the missing bits that she had already eaten before smashing it. _It really was her cake! _Miracles_ did happen!_

She looked at Jellal in disbelief, watching him smile knowingly. "How did you…?"

"It's a long story," he said. "Actually, it wasn't really me. Meredy did most of the work."

Erza kept looking at him in confusion and he sighed, deciding to give her a short explanation.

"When the two of us were in Crime Sorcière with Ultear, we sometimes tried to teach each other our magic, so we could all be versatile in our skills. One time, Ultear tried to teach us the Arc of Time," he informed her. "It was hopeless: it's a ridiculously difficult type of magic to master and I am told I am good at learning magical skills. Suffice to say, I am completely useless with it and Meredy just barely manages to use Restore. It only comes in handy when she breaks a pen, rips a dress or somehow damages something small and powerless. Like a plate of cake," he added, pointing at the one in front of her. "I asked her to take care of it while you were gone. The cake should taste the same as if it had never been crushed and with the plate restored, you won't risk finding yourself munching on bits of broken dinnerware."

She seemed positively amazed. "You rescued my cake for me," she said in disbelief.

"With help," he stated before blushing and looking away. "It was no problem."

Still, she looked very, very touched. "That was… that was very thoughtful." It wasn't just thoughtful it was… maddeningly loveable. She had to bring her hands down and actively keep herself from tackling him off that chair and use the floor the way she had used his bed the previous mouth during that burst of alcohol-fueled boldness. But that time, there was no alcohol to blame and the entire guild was present.

_Control yourself,_ she told herself firmly in her mind. _You will not embarrass yourself and Jellal by jumping him right in the middle of the guild even if right now he looks the most attractive you have ever seen him. It… it's just cake._

_Blasphemy!_ Another voice blared in her head.

"Aren't you going to eat it?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She looked up with wide eyes. "Yes, of course!" she said hurriedly, one hand still gripping her seat while the other came up to pick up the fork and cut a bite-sized portion of the heavenly cake.

As soon as it touched her lips, all thoughts except from those directly involving cake left her mind. It was _so_ good. That fact always hit her like a train at the first bite.

And so, Jellal was, once again, rewarded with _that_ sound. That sort of moan that always drove him nuts. Twice in one day! Unbelievable! He had to reach up for his nose to make sure he wasn't having a nosebleed. Pitiful. Just pitiful.

"Oh, I have just remembered… you were about to say something to me when Natsu came running in," Erza declared after recovering.

He froze. Oh, boy... Could he do it? Would he actually make it to asking the question that time? He was about 80% sure he would be interrupted before finishing it. But he had to try, right?

"Er, yes…" he said, voice trembling a little. Where should he start? Where should he start? "It's just that I heard the Cherry Blossoms will start blooming soon." Crap! He should have been more direct. He was wasting precious time before the inevitable interruption.

"That's right," Erza confirmed. "The ones around town should make an appearance towards the end of the month. They are unlike any other Cherry Blossoms you've ever seen."

"I've heard," he replied. _Ask her! Ask her!_

"We should go see them together sometime," she suggested, her cheeks starting to redden. "Just the two of us."

His eyes widened. That was _exactly_ what he had wanted to ask her. Was it bad that _she_ had asked _him_? Did it even matter? Oh, who cared? They hadn't been interrupted! "That was actually what I wanted to suggest," he confessed.

She seemed surprised too, though her face certainly lit up at the suggestion. "Good. Then… it's a date?"

He smiled. "Yes, it's a date."

All in an afternoon's work.

**The End**


End file.
